Wake Forest University

Revised as of 20030606: Instances of music played in different tunings to help you to understand one of the factors that makes a piece of Chinese music
sound different.

Musical Examples

The musical examples: "The Wearing of the Green" is a traditional song that is in the public domain. A "mutant" version is given here
to enable users to test whether the other midi files will actually demonstrate the difference in tunings. If it sounds normal to you, then
your system is not yet able to interpret midi "sysex" directions correctly, and the other midi files will not show any contrasts.
(As with other sound files, even this brief passage may not sound good when played using a browser running on a Windows computer.
The solution is to go to your "file" menu and use the "save as" command to make a copy on your hard drive. Then you can use the Edirol
Virtual Sound Canvas to play the music directly from your own copy of the file.)

"All Through the Night" is another traditional song, also in the public domain. There are two versions, one in the typical Western tuning,
and one in the Chinese tuning.

"Yang Ming Chun Xiao" is a piece of Chinese music that is available on the WWW. I have been unable to find any indication of authorship
or copyright, either on websites or within the midi text itself. I therefore presume that the music is in the public domain. I anyone knows
who the author is, please let me know.

"Winter Night" is my own composition, the melody part of which was made in 1962. Students from Japan told
me, at that time, that it sounded like their kind of music, so I have included it here as something that is perhaps "bu4 dong1 bu4 xi1" (neither
Eastern nor Western).

The fastest and best -- but only if you have the special midi software, and, in this version, only if your browser is set up to use that midi
software. Even if you have the software, you may need to download the file and play it from your hard drive. To try it, download and
install: Edirol Virtual Sound Canvas (Go to http://www.edirol.com/products/info/vscmp1.html and download an evaluation copy.)

Hear a bit of The Wearing of the Green to test whether you are really set up to hear the differences in tuning. If this doesn't
sound really strange then you must not have the right set-up for micro-tuning midi music yet. You should try saving the midi file
and playing it outside your browser so that you are not limited by the plug-in software used with your browser.

Listen to an MP3 version of what you should hear if your midi player will handle micro-tuning.

Download the following pieces of music to your hard drive in Real Audio format so that you can
access them locally via the freeware Real Audio player:

Before you start with the comparisons that involve fairly subtle differences
between the Western system (the Equal Tempered tuning) and the Chinese 12
Lyu tuning system, it may be helpful to practice hearing the differences among
several tunings that contrast more strongly. I have used a short passage from
Tart Ara Mon Cueur by Jean Molinet (1435-1507), and have played it
in (1) Equal Tempered tuning, (2) a tuning favored by La Mont Young, (3) the
just intonation that was originated by Ptolemy and refined by Mersenne, (4)
a tuning associated with Tibetan music, (5) a tuning invented by Pietro Aaron
that dates back to 1523, (6) a jazz tuning that involves the seventh harmonic
and the eleventh harmonic, (7) Mersenne's Improved Meantone, number one, tuning,
(8) and then it is played once more in the Equal Tempered tuning. Click
{{here}} to download this file to save to your own hard drive for later
play. (The entire piece of music is available in midi form at: http://icking-music-archive.sunsite.dk/scores/Vocal.html.)

If your computer configuration fails the "twisted Green" test above, do not bother with the following set of midi files, as both pairs of
any given set will sound exactly the same.

Hear the traditional Welch song All Through the Night as played in the Equal Tempered tuning, i.e., the tuning used by almost
all professional musicians in the United States, the way your teacher's piano was tuned at your primary school, etc. (Midi version)

Hear All Through the Night as played in the 12 Lyu tuning. (Midi version)

Listen by means of Streaming Audio
Listen to the following as streaming audio.
If you don't already have one, download and install your freeware player:
http://www.real.com/realone/mac/index.html?src=052903realhome_1_2
(Unless you have a high-speed
connection, you will likely experience distortions and stuttering using this method.)
Streaming Audio:

Windows Systems:
Using Netscape, download the following pieces of music to your hard drive in Real Audio format so that you can
access them locally via the freeware Real Audio player:

Using Netscape, download the traditional Welch song All Through the Night as played in the Equal Tempered tuning, i.e., the tuning used by almost
all professional musicians in the United States, the way your teacher's piano was tuned at your primary school, etc. (Download ".rm" file.)

Download All Through the Night as played in the 12 Lyu tuning. (Download ".rm" file.)

Download Winter Night as played in the Equal Tempered tuning. (Download ".rm" file.)

Download Winter Night as played in the the 12 Lyu tuning. (Download ".rm" file.)

Using Internet Explorer, download the following pieces of music to your hard drive in Real Audio format so that you can
access them locally via the freeware Real Audio player:
These files will also work for Netscape if the above links play their sound files directly through your browser.

Download the traditional Welch song All Through the Night as played in the Equal Tempered tuning, i.e., the tuning used by almost
all professional musicians in the United States, the way your teacher's piano was tuned at your primary school, etc. (Download ".rm" file.)

Download All Through the Night as played in the 12 Lyu tuning. (Download ".rm" file.)

Download Winter Night as played in the Equal Tempered tuning. (Download ".rm" file.)

Download Winter Night as played in the the 12 Lyu tuning. (Download ".rm" file.)

MP3 via your browser:
These recordings will break up badly when played on a Windows system directly from your Internet connection. If the sound is unsatisfactory,
then go to your browser's "file" menu, and use the "save as" function to make a copy that you can play directly from your own hard drive. T

I highly recommend Quintessential, the freeware player available fromhttp://www.quinnware.com/news.html
which can handle MP3 files, WAV files, and many others. (Unfortunately it can handle neither midi files nor RM streaming audio files),

Hear the traditional Welch song All Through the Night as played in the Equal Tempered tuning, i.e., the tuning used by almost
all professional musicians in the United States, the way your teacher's piano was tuned at your primary school, etc. (Play MP3 file.)

Hear All Through the Night as played in the 12 Lyu tuning. (Play MP3 file.)

".Wav" files to download to your hard drive and play:
(These files do not play well on my browser using my recent IBM portable and a telephone modem connection. I suggest that you after you
start loading these files you go to your "file" menu and use your "save as" function to save these files to your hard drive. Then you can use
the Quintessential player (or some other good player) to play them directly from your own hard drive.)

Hear the traditional Welch song All Through the Night as played in the Equal Tempered tuning, i.e., the tuning used by almost
all professional musicians in the United States, the way your teacher's piano was tuned at your primary school, etc.
(7,054K bytes, about 45 minutes via telephone modem)

Hear All Through the Night as played in the 12 Lyu tuning.
(7,054K bytes, about 45 minutes via telephone modem)